Leave No Hummer Owner Behind

The Bushites have hoisted themselves by their own political petard, and -- ouch -- that can hurt!

The petard in question is George's famous campaign slogan promising that he would "leave no child behind." That's a sweet thought, but it recently smashed up against the rock hard, right-wing ideology of plutocracy that is the governing ethic of this bunch -- an ethic that basically preaches, "leave no millionaire behind, and everyone else take the hindmost."

At issue was George W's $350 billion tax giveaway to the wealthiest of the wealthy -- the least needy families in America. The millionaire class will enjoy an average of about $93,000 a year from Uncle Sugar in this giveaway. There's even a special "Hummer deduction" tucked into the bill -- sort of like the prize in a box of Cracker Jacks. It gives a tax deduction of up to $100,000 to business owners who buy a vehicle weighing at least 6,000 pounds.

To provide a political sham for this rip-off by the rich, the Bushites tossed in a $400-per-child increase in the child tax credit, allowing George to proclaim with a straight face that his plutocratic boondoggle will "reduce tax rates for everyone who pays income taxes."

But -- oops! -- he lied. Nearly 12 million children live in low-income working families that do pay income tax, but were simply excluded from George's $400 tax credit. That's one in every six children that he left behind -- including, ironically, the children of some 200,000 men and women of the military. Yet, when confronted with this, Tom DeLay, the Bushites chief operative in the house, waved his hand dismissively and barked, "There are a lot of things more important than that."

Yeah, Tom, things like integrity and fairness, and honesty. There you have their "compassionate conservatism" -- $100,000 for Hummer owners, and not even $400 for the children of poor working families.